Pulau Tekong 31May - 03Jun10

From JS

After a gruelling period of 4 days in Tekong, I am back to modern civilisation, back to the company of mynas and more mynas. At Tekong, it was the White-rumped Shama that were everywhere - on the road and one even came up to my instructors for food!

Thrash birds aside, I was fortunate to hear my first Mangrove Blue-flycatcher and see my first Black-naped Monarch on Tekong. I was expecting to see the monarch in the dense forest of Tekong but saw it at the shrubby trees by the track.

Other noteworthy sightings were more Green Imperial-pigeons and plenty of the brilliantly coloured Purple-throated Sunbird.

Raptor Sighting on 1/6: Osprey (1)

Pulau Tekong 9Apr10

From JS

Yesterday was my last day at Pulau Tekong. (Hopefully, I dont have to go back as a private.) Anyway, over the past 2-3 months, I managed to see some birds and hear many more. In the process, I learn the importance of knowing the bird's call and recognizing them. Identifying birds without a bino is really an agonizing task, especially when you have probably a flock of great knots, a black-winged stilt and a Malaysian blue flycatcher in sight.

Still, I managed to id some and came up with a checklist, no photos though. My list of birds is not really complete with much more to be added, given the fact that I did not cover the grasslands, shorelines and mangroves of P. Tekong.

List of birds seen/heard at Pulau Tekong Besar:

1)   Pacific Swallow
2)   Red-rumped Swallow
3)   Barn Swallow
4)   House Swift
5)   Swiftlet spp.
6)   Black-naped Oriole
7)   Common Iora (h)
8)   Dark-necked Tailorbird (h)
9)   Common Tailorbird (h)
10) Ashy Tailorbird (h)
11) Koel
12) Banded Bay Cuckoo (h)
13) Little Bronze Cuckoo (h)
14) Plaintive/Rusty-breasted Cuckoo (h)
15) Crimson Sunbird (h)
16) Purple-throated Sunbird
17) Olive-backed Sunbird
18) Orange-bellied Flowerpecker  (h)
19) Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (h)
20) Asian Glossy Starling
21) Purple-backed Starling
22) Zebra Dove
23) Spotted Dove
24) Emerald Dove
25) Pink-necked Green Pigeon
26) Imperial Green Pigeon (2)
27) Rock Pigeon
28) Whimbrel
29) Common Redshank
30) Common Greenshank
31) Malaysian Plover (2)
32) Lesser Sand Plover
33) Grey Heron
34) Little Heron
35) Pond Heron sp.
36) Great-billed Heron (Highest count: 2)
37) Little Egret
38) Intermediate Egret
39) Pacific Reef Egret (Short-legged, white morph)
40) Changeable Hawk Eagle
41) White-bellied Sea Eagle (Highest count: 4)
42) Brahminy Kite
43) Black Baza (Highest Count: 4)
44) Black-winged Kite
45) Oriental Honey Buzzard? (1)
46) Magpie Robin (More abundant than mynas)
47) White-rumped Shama
48) Black-naped Monarch (h)
49) Malaysian Blue Flycatcher (1 male)
50) Asian Brown Flycatcher
51) Gerygone (h)
52) Stork-billed Kingfisher
53) Collared Kingfisher (h)
54) White-throated Kingfisher
55) Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker (h)
56) Common Flameback
57) Olive-winged Bulbul
58) Yellow-vented Bulbul
59) Yellow-eared Spiderhunter
60) Large-billed Crow
61) Common Myna
62) Javan Myna
63) Yellow-bellied Prinia (h)
64) Large-tailed Nightjar (h)
65) Savanna Nightjar (h)
66) Brown Hawk Owl (h)
67) Spot-bellied Eagle Owl? (h)
68) White-chested Babbler (h)
69) Red-wattled Lapwing
70) Scaly-breasted Munia
71) Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Pulau Tekong 18-21Mar10

From JS

I saw a pair of Green Imperial-pigeons. Large lilac-coloured bird with emerald dove's green wings. One perched and gave me a good view before flying away with his/her partner.

Raptors Seen:
1 Osprey on 18/3
1 OHB on 18/3
4 Black Bazas on 21/3

Pulau Tekong 8-12Mar10

From JS

I have just completed my field camp and got some interesting sightings and calls heard.

At about 7 am, I saw a blue flycatcher from my shell scrap, which is inside the forest. It has a faint orangey belly, blue throat and blue upperparts. Its call was a 5-6 note melodious tune without tics and tacs. Checking OBI, I am sure that the bird is a male blue Malaysian flycatcher.

Another bird of note is a nocturnal owl that calls like an elephant except that the call is drawn-out and is high pitched. Additionally, it has a screechy call. Checking Birds of Tropical Asia, it sounded exactly like the call of the spot-bellied eagle-owl. there was a pair at my shell scrap site that called throughout the night and more frequently when it was around 6 am.

More details:

I am highly certain that the blue flycatcher I saw was a male Malaysian blue flycatcher. Honestly, I wasn't looking at the bird through a bino, so there may be a possible mistake in the id. However, after referring to both OBI, Craig Robson and for the soundtracks, Birds of Tropical Asia and Xeno-Canto, I am convinced that the bird is a male Malaysian blue flycatcher. Here's my reasoning: Possible identity: Blue-Throated Flycatcher (BTF), Mangrove Blue Flycatcher (MBF), Malaysian Blue Flycatcher (MalBF), Tickell's Flycatcher (TF) 1) Habitat: I saw the bird singing at the under storey of a broadleaved forest, which was far from the coast. This seems to favour BTF, MalBF and TF. Seeing a MBF in the broadleaved forest would be rather unusual, if not rare. 2) Call: The bird had a melodious whistle (more like a song than a high-pitch whistle) that sounded like a combination of notes from the shama's and magpie's songs, excluding the hard "chack" of the shama's. TF, BTF and MBF have similar calls, differing only by the difference in tempo/pace. However, MalBF has a much lower pitched whistle, similar to a shama's and like what I heard. 3) Features: "faint orangey belly, blue throat and blue upperparts" TF: Lacks blue throat (eliminated) BTF: presence of black wing coverts but the bird I saw had an all blue upperparts. (eliminated) Possibilities left: MalBF and MBF a) MalBF has a fainter orangey belly/breast than MBF. The bird that I saw has a rather not obvious orangey breast/belly, more like pale breast than orange breast. Verdict: MalBF b) Blue Throat. Male MalBF has a very obvious blue throat, visible even from 3m away. On the other hand, MBf has a blue chin and a triangular orange throat. Verdict: MalBF c) Confusion: As the bird was seen in a typical shama's posture, raised tail and tilted body, looking from below, at 70 deg from my prone position in the shell scrap, the "orangey breast" (quoted from my previous email) looks like the belly while the belly looks like the vent, without a view of the vent. This may suggest a more extensive orange, favouring MBF. Judging from the other features/details, MalBF is overall a more convincing choice.

Pulau Punggol, Pulau Tekong 13Feb10

From JS

Pulau Punggol

Last Saturday, my father and I went to Pulau Punggol in the morning. Below is the summary of the raptors seen:

1) Peregrine Falcon (1)
2) Black-Shouldered Kite (2)
3) Brahminy Kite (>5)
4) Black Baza (2)
5) Chinese Sparrowhawk (1 female adult)
6) Booted Eagle (2 dark-morph booted eagle were seen circling in the sky. 1 of them was flushed from its roost in the upper storey.)
7) Changeable Hawk Eagle (1)
8) WBSE (>2)
9) Osprey (1)

A blur photo of the two Booted Eagles.

From Danny: Refer to accipiter pic, for a while we were thought it could be Shikra or Besra. Nevertheless, the distinct feature of orangey cere, pink wash (extend down to belly) with fine barring at belly, absence of uppertail barring & black primary tips (shown in JS pic), mesial streak, led to conclusion of adult female Chinese Sparrowhawk.

We did a short walk over to the left side of Highway, near the small cove. The interesting birds seen was an immature Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo and JS flushed a Barred Buttonquail.

This looks like a female Rhino Beetle. It is about the size of a thumb.

Male Changeable Lizard in breeding colours.

Pulau Tekong

Additionally, at Tekong, I saw 1 adult WBSE and heard 1 CHE. Of greater concern would be a sighting of a Yellow-eared Spiderhunter and a Great-billed Heron. I didn't hear any Mangrove Blue Flycatcher but heard the Black-naped Monarch calling.

The Yellow-eared Spiderhunter gave a "chrit" call and was about the size of a starling. Also, using my naked eyes, I saw its hooked bill, greenish throat and yellowish underparts. (Naked eyes is possible to see features given that it was big and flying at less than 10m above ground.) By call and size, I am sure that it is not a little spiderhunter or a thick-billed spiderhunter or spectacled spiderhunter, so that leaves it with the yellow-eared spiderhunter.